Software backed by Sir Stuart Rose will raise £450k from crowdfunding

The UK‘s first ‘persuasive messaging‘ specialist Taggstar began selling equity via crowdfunding platform Funding Tree and has now raised £315k from crowdfunding investors (on track to raise £450k), who will be given a chance to profit from the power of e-commerce.

Taggstar‘s technology, which is already being used by the Shop Direct Group, the £1.7bn retail giant behind the Littlewoods and Very.co.uk brands, is designed to “turn browsers into buyers”. It engages with online shoppers and provides real-time messages about products they‘ve been browsing. By flagging up customer reviews, pointing out the fastest-selling items and how many other people are viewing them, the system gently encourages shoppers to hit the buy button.

Although the technology behind it is quite sophisticated, it can be integrated into a retailer‘s existing website very swiftly. It‘s being marketed not as a software package, but as a Cloud-based Software as a Service, putting it within reach of both large and medium-sized retailers.

While having only launched in late 2014, the company projects that revenue will exceed £1m by the end of 2015, as its potential for explosive growth is achieved. It is currently in advanced talks with British Airways as well as multinational retailers Argos and Asos.

As part of its ambitious growth strategy, Taggstar has turned to Funding Tree, the UK‘s only fully regulated crowdfunding platform to raise both loans and equity investment for companies seeking finance.

Taggstar was launched with seed capital from retail grandees such as the former M&S boss Sir Stuart Rose, but Funding Tree is now offering small investors the chance to buy shares too. £450,000 of equity has been made available on the Funding Tree platform, and the minimum investment is only £50.

Dillen Iyavoo, Chief Executive and Founder of Funding Tree, comments:

“Taggstar is just the sort of progressive business that we set up Funding Tree to help. With proven technology, a unique proposition and a robust revenue model, it has the potential to grow quickly into a partner of choice for the giants of e-commerce.”

He continues:

“E-commerce has remained largely unchanged for more than a decade, now it‘s evolving fast and online brands need the best technology and tools to compete. Taggstar‘s ability to boost a site‘s conversion rate by 10% can make the difference between all-star and also-ran.”